HBO Renews Comedy Series 'Veep' And 'Girls' For Second Season

HBO has given early second-season pickups to new comedy seriesVeep and Girls after two and three airings, respectively. Both have received 10-episode orders. The Julia Louis-Dreyfus starrer Veep drew 1.4 million viewers in its debut to Girls‘ 872,000, though Veep has a much larger lead-in from Game Of Thrones. In gross audience, the two comedies are on par, 3.8 million for Girls and 3.7 million for Veep, which started a week later. Girls, created by and starring Lena Dunham, takes a comic look at the humiliations and triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s. Veep, created by Armando Iannucci, stars Louis-Dreyfus as the newly minted Vice President.

66 Comments

yessss • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

HBO is on a roll! Love both of these, very different but both top notch and hilarious. Go team Naegle!

YW • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

GIRLS has gotten significantly better in the last two episodes. The second and third episodes were terrific and very funny. I was on the fence after that weak pilot. Now I’m interested in watching more.

Yes • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I totally agree. I’m glad to see it was renewed.

butseriously • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Agreed. By episode 3 it has become possibly the funniest show on the tube.

Not Walter Mondale • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

What really bothered me most about Veep was that there was no representation of ME.

Peggy • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

REALLY??? You mean she’s not WHITE?

You better clean your TV screen because if it’s a character on HBO and NOT in a ghetto, they will be WHITE.

Half-wit and still smarter than you • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Peggy, you’re a moron. There’s an entire series on HBO called Treme with a majority Af-Am cast and it’s not set in a ghetto. It’s set in New Orleans which is a fine hub of culture unlike the place you probably grew up.

suggestion • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

You should have gotten more people to watch No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Treme, Peggy.

butseriously • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Why must we always hate on the ladies when they make good? This isn’t about racism. It’s about sexism. There are plenty of all-white boy shows out there and nobody complains.

GIRLS is pretty great. Lena Dunham is an amazing talent. She seems to have no fear. VEEP, on the other hand, plays it too safe. It is so apolitical that it has no teeth and therefore no center. Without Julia the show would be completely unwatchable.

wrongidea • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

its not a show about politics. watch newsroom if that is what you want. There are no politics intended.

HW • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Not quite true. A show doesn’t have to stake out explicit positions on “political” issues like abortion and tax policy to be inherently political. The show is indeed political in that it presents the higher echelons of the federal government as a cesspool of cynicism and incompetence. If your view of government is one that it is incompetent and ill-equipped to serve the needs of the citizenry, and should be downsized or eliminated or replaced by the wonders of the free market, you will nod in agreement at what you see in the show.

Not a Girls Fan • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I don’t care that the girls on Girls are vapid and I don’t care that there are no minority characters and I don’t care that any of these people are related to famous people.
But I do care that I’ve watched every episode and can’t tell you a single thing about the characters other than what would be on the first character description you’d turn into a network. Who are these people? What do they want? Thin thin thin writing.

Peggy • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

But that’s the point. If this is a white show, they don’t have to care about these things. They’re white, that’s enough. Now if this were a black show you’d have to have ALL THOSE THINGS you mention, and it STILL wouldn’t be enough to get it ON THE AIR let alone KEPT on the air should it get there.

A person • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I so agree. I will give this show one more episode to do anything but make me cringe.

Hussman • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I know what you mean. If I were Lena Dunham’s intern boss, I wouldn’t pay her, if I were her parents, I wouldn’t bankroll her free New York life, if I were an interviewer, I wouldn’t hire her…I find nothing about her character that I like. I don’t need HBO to see that, I can just check Facebook and see half the people I used to know.

a • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

GIRLS is spectacular. Anyone who disagrees has no taste. Period.

Roger C. • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

This is an idiotic statement. Some of the smartest people I know think GIRLS is a complete snooze.

yen • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

and absolutely NO attention to story. hate it. and hate how PLEASED lena dunham is with herself. we get it. put someone else in the credits.

chuck norris rocks • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Always strikes me as odd how these shows get picked up and yet NO ONE I know seems to be watching it. On the flip side, everybody I know really loved “The Comeback” on HBO with Lisa Kudrow and they cancelled that after the first season. Politics, baby. That’s all we’re watching.

it's not tv • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

LOL @ people who judge the whole world by their little clique of friends. Nobody I know watches Keeping Up With the Kardashians, either, but it exists.

April • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I think @ChuckNorrisRocks’s point is that he knows a lot of people who watch the OTHER comedies on HBO but not a single one of them is watching Girls.

Fox Mulder • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

In the words of Bill Maher, more than 15 million people in America watch NCIS… I don’t even know anyone that watches NCIS!

taffin • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

GIRLS is actually the first HBO half-hour since THE COMEBACK that’s really worthy of attention; both are instant classics.

Anon • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

LOVE Girls, even if it is Tiny Furniture the TV Show. Lena Dunham blows me away every week and I love the world.

Was so looking forward to Veep but I hated the pilot. 2nd episode was 110% better and funnier, so I’m optimistic.

Glad these are coming back!

Bob • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Add some diversity to Girls.

diversity police • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Geez, enough with the cries of diversity already. Let the white people have their thing. Why would any self-respecting black person wanna hang out with these self-absorbed, hipster white chicks anyway? I sure wouldn’t. Only Brian Williams’ daughter is even cute in the cast.

hmmmm • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

“Let the White People have their thing?”

for reals?

diversity police • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Sure why not. Let ‘em have their thing. Better than all this whining. Especially over a shitty HBO show.

If they shoehorned a white chick into “Girlfriends” sistas would have been crying. They basically wrote out the white girl on “The Game.”

Where’s the outrage?

M. • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

And We all know ” cute” is theonly reason to watch a person on a tv show.

Take me now, Jesus…

GaryS • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Imagine Girls with a black cast. HBO execs would have to spend the rest of their careers on apology tours for depicting People of Color as that empty.

bart100 • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

since when does an artist have a responsibility to diversity? that’s like saying tyler perry should make a movie for white people. what a joke. writers and directors did not get into the affirmative action business, it’s art, it’s entertainment. GIRLS is about a bunch of educated broke NYC white twentysomethings. and there’s nothing wrong or immoral or offensive about that.

Gerald • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

We argue over a few casting decision while the holocaust in TV continues agains blacks behind the camera. In terms of actual black writers even the Guild is embarrassed and won’t release the numbers. Why? Because some networks have NOT ONE BLACK WRITER AT PRODUCER LEVEL ON ANY OF THEIR SHOWS.

Girls and VEEP are both awful, non-funny shows. And neither has anyone of color in the case or on the staffs.

im a boy • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Veep to me is a show about nothting…genuinely, nothing. its not political, its not funny…

Now im just one opinion. I’d love to hear what it is that people think is so great…not knocking the show or you, so far it’s not for me, but ive felt that about plenty of shows and that’s changed.

Girls on the other hand is one of the best written pilots id seen in a long time. They did such an amazing job of telling you so much about each and everyone of those characters in a pilot i was really imressed…these are people i (generally) dont care about, love to make fun of etc and whats more its about women, which while im not opposed to, im not one, so it’s not necessarily for me…everything going into the show was a red flag, but i was really impressed. still on the fence if i keep watching, but its on the DVR.

Ryan in L.A. • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I want to like “Veep” but the show seems to be missing something…

It’s a LOT of dialogue, and the dialogue is good, but the stories don’t grab me. The concept of the show is “the Vice Presidency is a pointless do-nothing job and therein lies humor,” but from the audience standpoint there are no stakes. Why should we care about these people?

I’m also not sure Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the kid from “My Girl” can carry a show. They’re good but not that good, and they seem to be onscreen about 95% of the time.

And most of the comedy aims pretty low. I haven’t laughed in two episodes. The overall feel reminds me of “Larry Sanders Show” but that show was a lot funnier. “Veep” needs some bigger, better ideas or it won’t last on HBO.

Rob • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I completely agree. I wanted so badly to like Veep because I love JLD but it is terrible. Not funny and more annoying than anything else. I’ve removed it from my DVR schedule. Better luck next time HBO.

Mr. Quip • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Veep, seriously? That show is just awful. Although with Game of Thrones as lead-in, you could show somebody sleeping for half an hour and still have the same size audience.

agent • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

VEEP is absolutely terrible. Just truly terrible. Don’t know
how Sue N. can pick this thing up with a straight face. Yuk.

Erik • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Both shows are pretty damn good; better than anything most of the networks are cranking out nowadays. No need to argue…

Dr.dre • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Girls is truly terrible. Vapid and in-love-with-itself. Veep isn’t much better in terms of writing but at least it doesn’t have that smug and entitled thing Girls does.
And I miss “The Comeback” too, that was a funny show.

MattM • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

It doesn’t need diversity, it needs a better, more interesting story and characters.

IDontGetIt • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Veep is Arli$$ 2.0

That show was awful and looked out of place on HBO back in the day. Watching Veep brought back those same feelings of banal mediocrity.

umm • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

JLD should win an emmy…its amazing show, so funny unlike most cable “comedies”

Pablo • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

VEEP is really, really bad. Not funny. I try to watch but it is difficult to watch. There is no point. Too shallow. We have had Dan Quayle, Agnew and almost General Haig so there’s material available.

Joe W • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I like how people criticize shows for not being diverse and want diversity just for the sake of it and let story/characters play second fiddle to political correctness. Hey guess what? There are groups of girl friends in the world that are all white. And all black. And all hispanic. And all asian. Stop trying to paint the world as some harmonic cultural melting pot in every show or film that’s being produced.

Bees • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

The reason people are upset about GIRLS not being diverse, is because its setting is in one OF THE MOST DIVERSE CITIES IN THE WORLD!

It’s not Girls Wisconsin or Girls Utah.

Lena Dunham did a solid job with this show and has a lot to be proud of, but the egregious racial exclusions strike many as strangely false. It keeps Girls from being what it could have been: a cultural zeitgeist. Instead, it’s just a pretty decent show starring a bunch of plain young actresses cashing in on their privilege.

Golf-clap.

midwesterngirl • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Is this your way of saying that Wisconsin and Utah are states where only white people live? Is that your understanding of race? Lena has to only be honest to herself and her experience on this show and she’s not bound by your NY or the guy sitting next to you either. That’s not her responsibility. She just has to be honest and write her perspective and if you think that having your dad be a drummer in a 1970’s band gets you an acting job, you must be new to the business. Your artist parents can’t get you an acting job either. You are not getting any kind of clap from me Bees.

Justin Poppiti, Esq. • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Have you ever lived in NYC? Yes, there are a lot of different races here. But, that doesn’t mean that everyone has close friends that are different races.

Joe • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I too would like to seem some diversity on “Girls”. By which I mean making the dialogue interesting to grown up.

shadallion • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

These are two terrific comedies, glad they both got picked up.

HBO needed some good comedies to replace Eastbound & Down and Entourage, and they’ve done it.

Joe • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Girls is easily the worst show on television. This is a sad day for HBO.

kasaja • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

If either of these shows were on anything other network than HBO or Showtime where everything gets a second year after two episodes have aired they would be dead on arrival. Veep it one hundred percent unwatchable. Does anyone really believe this women is the Vice-President of the United States. Love Julia but this show is poorly written and conceived. Girls on the other hand might hit a chord with a small portion of the audience that I’m not part of thankfully. Lea Dunham might be brilliant but she is tough to watch and seems incredibly interested in herself.

Give me the good old days of Larry Sanders and Entourage. Those shows were funny which i think is the core object of a comedy on television.

Neww comedy, Dunham’s brilliant evolution of comedy, is named as such because it’s comedy that disgusts you to watch it. But that’s the point. It’s post-comedy-comedy, the ground breaking genre of comedy where producing laughter isn’t the point. But that’s the beauty of it; unfunny – comedy, get it? Sheer brilliance. It’s comedy that demands your attention because it’s entitled to it, because it’s on HBO, because they said so. It’s a show where the writing is so finely layered, that the very nature of it’s theme can be rooted within all the characters. New faces/ideas that wouldn’t work on “old” tv, but are entitled enough to show up and expect the world without actually producing anything of substance, merit nor laughter. Old comedies made you feel good inside, while Girls aims for your displeasure.

Lena’s masterpiece has done nothing short of turning comedy upside down. Irony is the new comedy. Describing HBO’s comedy lineup with any other word just seems insufficient. Where else can you tune in, looking for jokes for you and realize that it’s on you instead?

nah • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

If you need to analyze and offer that much explanation then it really must not be funny.

Girls IS a little smug and I didn’t like it as much as I really, really wanted to like it, but Lena Dunham doesn’t work for the ACLU-leave her alone! It’s just entertainment people. Just out of curiousity, was there this much uproar about the lack of diversity on Sex and the City?

Jamesvic • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

I don’t understand all the whining about diversity. This show is one of the most realistic pieces I have seen. So many of the events in the last three episodes are familiar (not going to lie, i have been the asshole guy fucking a dumpy chick cause she was convenient). There are some films/tv shows that captures life so well- it should be stored and shown as history lessons. This is how life is and has been for the last handful of years.

Now maybe it rings vapid, silly, dumb, or pathetic- but it is real and refreshingly honest.

Aeiouy • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Hope no horses die on veep or else the renewal will be reneged.

Jan • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

Renewed? Girls is pretentious unwatchable trash. However, I’m pleased for the few thousand pseudo-intellectuals who seem to like it.

firebrand • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

HBO got rid of Hung and Bored to Death for these two pieces of crap? Oh HBO, how low you have fallen.

Alan • on Apr 30, 2012 12:28 pm

if GIRLS is art then art is well and truly fu@ked. What a boring show, and the reason people might like it is because they see themselves in overtly unsexy girls showing their cottage cheese thighs on tv. enough already. at least SATC had the giggle factor. this has the “I need to look away now” while chubby tits gets boned by the bug boy.